Why cant I protect you?
by Sunshineandpeterparker
Summary: Tony decides to help Peter with new bad guys, but when Peter gets hurt, Tony feels as if he's failed his kid.


"Spiderman!" Tony yelled as he saw Peter fly across the sky and out of sight. Tony had come to assist Peter with some new villains that had shown up a couple days ago. Their weapons weren't quite as strong as the ones the vulture had made but definitely close in strength. Tony didn't doubt that Peter could handle them himself, ever since the vulture incident, Tony was more than aware that Peter could handle things himself, but this wasn't just one or two guys, it was eight of them, all armed and Tony couldn't help but get paranoid so he decided to help, and good thing he did.

"Spiderman! Are you alright? Answer me!"

"mmm, ya, ugh, I'm ok" Peter had been thrown through a wall of a building that was no longer in use, but there was a lot of extra wood everywhere and it didn't go unnoticed as Peter fell right on top of it.

"Are you sure, that didn't sound ok," Tony said as he took out the last bad guy he could see, but when he counted from the start he counted eight, he only counted seven now, they couldn't be far so he had decided to go over to Peter first.

Peter hesitated, unsure of whether he should tell the truth or give Tony the minor details "Well I wouldn't say that I'm sure, but I've felt worse"

Tony knew Peter was talking about the fight with the vulture. Tony had always put up an act that he was simply proud of Peter, but Tony will always truly think of it as the night Peter could've died, and it was partly his fault.

"Well I'm coming to you now, there's one more guy on the loose, but I'm sure he isn't far"

Peter was laying down, but he didn't want Tony to worry, so he decided to sit up. "uh, ya, alright, sounds good" Peter sounded out of breath.

Tony got a bit concerned with how Peter sounded but decided against worrying too much. when Tony got to Peter he entered through the hole Peter's body made through the wall. he saw Peter sitting up, and although he had his mask on, he looked a bit off, maybe it was his posture, Tony didn't know.

"Hey Tony! so we just gotta get one more guy?"

"Yup"

"nice, tha–"Peter paused when he felt it, his spider senses going off the walls, then he heard it. It almost felt slow motion, but he made a split second decision between himself and Tony, but that wasn't a hard one for him to make. He quickly used one of his webs to push the iron man suit out of the building through the hole he came in, and it was only a second later that there was an explosion and the building came down.

Tony's ears rang, he was confused for a few seconds, but then he had remembered what happened, and his heart raced. He looked around and saw the empty building destroyed, it was two stories high, so not too big, but it had fallen right on top of Peter. Tony looked up to see the last bad guy on top of the roof of the building across the street. Tony simply blasted them now fully focused on Peter, he could get mad later.

"Peter?!" Tony started to move towards where Peter had been in the building. "PETE!?" Tony's heart raced faster. Peter had to be okay, if he pushed him out then, he could the same for himself right? Tony tried his best the keep positive, but that all went away when he saw a hand, a small hand sticking out under fallen debris and burnt wood. Tony's heart stopped, but he couldn't just stare, he had to snap out of it, he had to save Peter.

There was fire everywhere, so he decided to start with that, so he extinguished the fire, that was closest to Peter. Then he got to what was important. When Tony went to the other side of Peter, he saw that, thankfully, the debris was not on his head, but it was on just about every other part of his body. Right now all Tony could see of Peter was his face, his right arm and a little bit of his chest. Tony looked at Peters' shoulder, it looked, wrong, he winced at that.

"FRIDAY, give me a report of his injuries"

FRIDAY was silent for a few seconds while she gathered the information. " Peter has a minor concussion, a dislocated AC joint on his right shoulder, a broken left collarbone, three cracked ribs, a dislocated left knee, and an injury in his right calf that his suit is not allowing me to scan. He also had multiple abrasions and bruises." That part about the calf worried Tony, but he tried not to imagine the worst. "I have called in a medical team."

"Thanks."

Peter let out a small groan, he was waking up. Tony took off Peter's mask. "Hey kid, it's me, your gonna be ok, alright? just try to stay awake"

"Tony...it-it h-hurts," Peter said in a small, weak whisper.

"I know Peter, I know I'm gonna help you and your gonna be ok" Tony was trying to remain calm, mostly for Peter's sake, but he was also trying to convince himself that Peter will be ok.

Tony started flying low, above Peter and started to take off one of the large pieces of debris off of Peter's chest. Peter let out a groan of discomfort caused by the shifting in his broken collarbone. Tony then took off the one on peters abdomen. Then one of his thighs, resulting in another groan due to shifting in his kneecap.

The last tony took of where the two on Peters shins. Taking the one on his left earned no response from Peter, but it was a different story with the right leg. When Tony went to pick it up, he saw blood leaking out, and wasn't excited to see what was under. He went to pick it up.

"aaauUGHHH" Peter cried out. He eyes began to water. Tonys' heart broke a little, he tossed the debris away and knelt down next to Peter.

"Hey kid, you still with me?"

"mmmm...dont..wnna...stay...awake.." Peter let out a small whimper, and it broke Tony's heart a little.

"I know Pete, but you have to, just stay strong for me." Tony looked over to Peters right leg.

"FRIDAY, scan his calf and send the info to the medical team"

"yes sir"

Tony looked back at Peter and saw the pain on his face. A tear rolled down his cheek, and that made Tony feel awful. The vulture incident was months ago, he and Peter had become closer, and Tony thought that he would be able to protect Peter, but even with a high tech suit, and even with Tony there to help him, even then, he can't protect Peter. Even then, Peter is the victim of the crime.

"Peter I'm gonna pick you up and fly you to the compound ok? You gotta stay awake for me." Tony tried his best to stay calm, but his heart was racing, what if Peters condition is worse than thought. All he needed to do was get him to the compound, there, Peter will be safe. Tony tried to pick Peter up as gently as possible but-

"AAUUGHHH" Peter let out another pained cry, louder than before, and that broke Tony's heart in two. Peter breaths came in pants, his body was tired, and he just wanted to sleep.

"I know it hurts bud, I'm sorry, just stay strong, I'm gonna get you all fixed up." Tony tried to keep Peter awake, but his attempts were quickly failing.

"mmtrying, is...too hard.." Peter said slurring which concerned Tony. Peter rolled his head into the chest of the iron man suit and Tony took off.

Tony felt like it took an eternity getting to the compound, but he was sure glad he got there when he finally did. he went straight to the med wing and him on a bed, and it took less than two seconds for nurses to be swarming Peter.

"Tony, what happened"

Tony turned around to see who was asking to see it was Bruce. "Well uh, a building fell on him" Tony hated hearing the words come out of his went over to Peter and joined the nurses in fixing him.

"You ok too?" Bruce asked, focused on peter.

"uh, yea, just focus on Peter," Tony said quietly. He left the waiting room, got out of his suit and sat down.

"Tony, are you ok? what happened?" Happy asked as he entered.

"I couldn't protect him, I was right there and a building fell right on top of him, I failed him." Tony couldn't help but feel guilty. "Well, I should get going, back to the crime scene, I gotta clean up a bit over there," Tony said as he walked over to his suit, and he got in and took off before Happy could say anything. When he got back he saw police surrounding the area. Tony had told them what happened and helped clean the mess up. All the criminals had been caught, especially the only that cause the building to fall.

Soon Tony flew back to the compound, the whole time his heart rate increasing, he wasn't really sure why, Peter wasn't in critical condition or anything, but there was a lot of blood coming from his leg. When Tony got back, happy said that they were in surgery for Peters' leg. So now all Tony could do was wait.

After a while Tony began to grow impatient, he was about to go ask someone himself, but then Bruce came out. Tony stood immediately, and walked over to Bruce "How is he?"

"Come with me," Bruce said as he turned and walked towards the room Peter was in. When they entered the room, it was honestly, less terrible than Tony expected, but he still didn't like what he saw. Peter was in a slightly raised bed, because of his ribs, which were wrapped up. His knee was in a brace, his right leg heavily bandaged, his left arm was strapped to his chest to prevent movement, and his right arm had a shoulder brace, it all made Peter look, much smaller. Peter had a nasal canal, and the blanket went only to his waist. Tony looked at the part of Peter's body they weren't in a brace or thick bandages, just to see more bandages and even more bruises. It didn't look too great, but, Peter was alive, he was ok.

"It's better than it looks" Bruce tired to offer some comfort. "His ribs are healing fast, as usual, and his dislocated knee and shoulder are doing the same. The only thing that is gonna take a little more time than usual is his calf, its also healing fast, but the wood did do some damage, nothing long lasting but, it'll be sore for a few days, that's for sure."

"How did he just, walk away from a building falling on his last time? How is it that when he has a suit and me there that he gets a serious injury?" Tony asked, disappointed in himself.

"Well, probably because there was more force, and, last time he didn't have a piece of wood lodged in his calf. Don't be so hard on yourself, he's gonna be ok." Bruce again attempted to comfort Tony, and was hearing what Bruce was saying but, he wasn't willing to process it.

It took around three hours for Peter to wake up. Peter felt, numb but, sore? He couldn't tell, his senses took their time coming back to him. He was tired, but he didn't wanna go back to sleep, he wanted to know what happened. Eventually, he was able to open his eyes. He saw a white ceiling, and he noticed a steady beeping in the background. Was that a heart monitor? What happened? He couldn't remember. He decided to look more at his surroundings. He rolled his heavy head to the left only enough to see that Tony was there, arms crossed and head hanging, he was asleep. He then lowered his eyes to look at his own body. He saw a knee brace, a heavily bandaged leg and his ribs were wrapped up. He also noticed his left arm strapped to him and a shoulder brace. He still didn't remember what happened, so he thought really hard and then, it became almost as clear as day. The bad guys, the explosion, and the horrible feeling of large pieces of debris on top of him. His heart started to beat faster as he kept thinking, and that's all it took for Tony to wake.

"Peter?"

Tony and Peter made eye contact. There was silence, and then relief.

"Hey kid, I'm glad you're awake." Tony was so happy to see those eyes open again, they were tired but bright as always.

"Are you hurt at all?" Peter asked, and Tony didn't know if he should roll his eyes or allow his heart to melt a little. Tony smiled.

"You're asking me? You are in a hospital bed, and you are asking me if I'm hurt?"

"well, ya, did you hit your head on anything? you aren't hurt at all?" Peter asked concerned.

"Nope"

"Good."

Tony was confused, does Peter not feel his own body, did he not just look at his own body. "You don't make any sense kid, I'm much more concerned about you. Are you in pain?"

"no, not really, but I'm guessing I'm supposed to be" Peter started sounding tired.

"Ya, you are on a good amount of pain meds." Tony smiled "Look, I'm really sorry I didn't do more for you, I should have gotten that last bad guy first, I'm sorry, I should have protected you." Tony felt terrible, he wanted to do the situation all over again, and make it so that Peter was still out swinging in the streets.

"It's ok, you did your best, and I didn't have a chance to say it before, but thanks for the help with the bad guys," Peter said kindly. Tony frowned, he didn't deserve Peter.

"Thanks, kid," Tony said quietly, he didn't deserve the kindness

"Look whos up" Bruce came into the room "How are you feeling peter?"

"I don't know, mostly tired, and sore I guess" Peter kept getting quieter.

"That's normal. All your injuries are healing up well, but you are gonna have to stay off your right leg a few days alright?" Bruce informed

"Ok, sounds good" Peter gave a weak smile, as his eyes began to droop.

"Ok, get some sleep now, you need it" Peter nodded, and Bruce gave Tony a look assurance and left. Peter's eyes began to close.

"Thanks for being there for me," Peter said softly and fell asleep.

"No problem kid" Tony didn't know what he did to deserve Peter because Peter deserved the world.


End file.
